By Grace Ofurum
Journalists across the south-south/ south East have been urged to deploy factchecking and Freedom of Information (FoI) tools in their reportage to combat information disorder.
This charge was given in a two- day capacity building workshop organised by the International Press Center IPC as the lead implementing partner of component 4 and funded by the European Union support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EUSDGN ll ). The project drew about 40 participants from across online, print and broadcast media. The event took place at the Golden Tulip hotel in Portharcout Rivers state.
Speaking at the workshop, the Executive Director of International Press Center IPC Lagos, Mr. Lanre Arongundade who spoke on the topic “Fact checking of pictures in the head, good journalism and imperative of investigation and Verification” said, journalists should shun every form of biases in their reportage, diversify and use multiple credible sources and ensure they differentiate opinion from facts in giving acurate and balanced reportage.
He insisted that there is a tendency for a journalists to indulge in hate speech if the picture in the head is not separated from reality and charged journalists to make use of some fact checking online platforms to dictate deep fakes audio, video and images on social media before publishing their stories.
He noted that there is also need for media practitioners as advocates of good governance to hold political appointees accountable by engaging in critical questions to ensure they fulfill their campaign promises to the people.
He explained also that misleading information can pose several dangers such as, spread of hate speech, mistrust on the media, threat to journalists among others.
Also in his presentation the Executive Director, Media Right Agenda, Edetaen Ojo who drilled the media practitioners on post election reporting using FoI and other items methodologies to report democratic governance and electoral accountability issues”, said the FoI can be used by journalists to “constantly remind the government of their responsibility to the people as security and welfare of the people is the primary objective of the government”
He told journalists to be conversant with the act and use it to make request for official documents, records, reports and other relevant materials and information to support claims by government office holders.
He noted that the FoI act is beneficial as it ensures transparency and accuracy in information dissemination.
In her own presentation, A University of Portharcout Lecturer, Dr. Titi Osuagwu emphasized more on “Deepening reportage of gender issues in post election” and said an inclusive coverage is imperative for a fair gender portrayal.
She said that the “lack of gender perspective often impedes genuine development in all sphere of life as it increases inequality and slows down the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
According to her, statistics from findings show that there in imbalance in the ratio of news sources from men against the women and stressed the need for more women to be included in coverages and noted that women should also be encouraged to compete for political position alongside the men to avoid gender inequality.
In the course of the workshop the participants in their various task groups engaged in fact checking on political campaign promises and the drafting of an FoI request to access claims by government office holders.
Some of the participants who spoke at end of the workshop thanked IPC and the EU for the impactful training and promised to implement the learning gotten at the workshop in their reporting.
